March '06 Releases

Guest Author - Elizabeth Darrach

Hello, and welcome back! We're still working out some final details about the spring booksigning at work, but when we have it all together, I'll be sure to let you know in the forum and via the newsletter (and if you're not signed up to get that monthly newsletter yet, you can do that by going here.) so if any of you are in the area, you can stop by and get some books signed by some great romance authors. In the meantime, I have three new releases to share with you.

The Penalty Box (Berkley) by Deirdre Martin is the next in her hockey series, this time with former fat girl Katie Fisher facing off with former high school jock and jerk Paul van Dorn. A little different than its predecessors, Paul is no longer able to play hockey, so he's returned to his hometown to run a sports bar. Katie's on sabbatical from her teaching position, and dealing with her nephew while writing a book. The issues here have more depth, at least as far as Katie's family goes, than the previous books in the series, but Paul's are pretty shallow, and I didn't love either of them. It was the best of the hockey books so far, but still only earns two and a half arrows. Not a keeper for me.

Sexy Beast (Aphrodisia) has stories by Kate Douglas, Noelle Mack and Vivi Anna. The Douglas story, 'Chanku Rising', is a continuation of her shapeshifters, which did nothing good for me in January. This one didn't either. I was more disappointed with the second story, 'Tiger, Tiger' by Noelle Mack. Set in the high mountains of the Far East, climber Dani finds herself in a cave with a sexy man. Or a tiger? Or is she even still alive? It seems purposefully vague, her fate, that is, and by the end, I didn't care. 'Night of the Jaguar' by Vivi Anna has Mara Galas stalked by a predator since she somehow survived an attack in the jungles of the Amazon, and the mysterious Xalvador arrives just in time to save her again. This one just didn't grab me. The danger isn't all that frightening, nor the attraction here all that deep.

Undressing Mercy (Aphrodisia) by Deanna Lee is next, with gallery art director Mercy Rothell forced to pose for Shamus Montgomery, the sexy new artist she's just signed to show at her gallery. My interest was piqued by the idea of this one, but I was very let down by the actual telling of it. This one is more Mercy's journey than an erotic romance. In fact, there's precious little romance here. I'd call this one women's fiction with a dash of hot sex, rather than even erotica. Disappointing.